Tatoxcac

In the middle of the village there is a little cave so narrow you can only get in by crawling, and the name comes from it: Tetoxcac, from tet, stone, and toxcac, throat, so "throat of rock". Today it is spelled Tatoxcac and is an auxiliary board of Zacapoaxtla, deep in the Sierra Norte, about 8 km west of Tlatlauquitepec. The 2020 census counted 4,977 residents spread over ridges at around 1,900 metres. Its boundaries are barrios with Nahuatl names: Xaltetela to the north, Atacpan and Cuacuilco to the south, Tazecuala and Ahuacatlán to the east and Tezpilco to the west.

Local history holds two points of pride. The first is the sanctuary of the Señor del Triunfo, built between 1723 and 1748 and consecrated that last year, according to the confraternity papers in the parish archive. The second is military: while the town of Zacapoaxtla leaned toward the Empire, a handful of at least seven men from the barrio, led by Lieutenant Manuel Molina, marched with the 6th National Guard Battalion of Tetela de Ocampo and fought in the battle of 5 May 1862 at Puebla. They later defended the convent of San Agustín in April 1863, and Tatoxcac itself saw fighting in March and April 1865 and in July 1866. In 2003 the Puebla state congress voted unanimously to turn the old barrio into a pueblo and auxiliary board.

The landscape is broken highland, with deep ravines and streams running down to the Apulco, a tributary of the Tecolutla. The Hueyteco river rises on Cerro Tomaquilo, over 2,500 metres high, and springs are plentiful. Winter brings "chipi chipi", a fine drizzle, and thick banks of fog. In the municipality a third of the people speak Nahuatl; shirts are embroidered, palm chiquihuite baskets are woven and wax is worked for the festivals. Sierra cooking runs to tlacoyos, molotes and mole aguado, also called chilpozonte.